from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The nuclear power industry is currently dominated by light-water reactor designs from the 1940-50s. These reactors use ordinary water (aka light water) as the fluid for transferring thermal energy to turbines that generate electricity, but there are other nuclear reactor designs that could be safer and produce less problematic radioactive waste. Fusion reactors aren't ready to generate any energy yet, but they're getting closer (just another 30 years, promise). If you're interested in atomic energy, check out the links below.

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Man-made fusion reactors always seem to be 30-50 years away, even though the sun fuses atoms all the time, mocking us with its immense generation of free fusion energy. Sure, there have been a couple of wunderkinds who've built fusion reactors in their spare time, but the trick is generating a surplus of energy -- not just fusing atoms for fun. Here are a few interesting links on inertial confinement fusion.